Book Review: Priscilla Finds Where She Belongs

In Priscilla Finds Where She Belongs, a kindhearted family (Ron, Mary, and their children) stumbles across a sweet little beagle running down the middle of a busy road. Unable to pass her by and leave her to her defenses, the family takes her in and tries to find where she belongs. When they can’t find her family, they take her to the humane society, where it is soon discovered that Priscilla does have owners, but they can no longer take care of her. Ron and Mary take Priscilla back and foster her until a forever home can be found. Eventually, they adopt Priscilla and give her to Ron’s brother, where Priscilla lives happily ever after.

The story is told from Priscilla’s point of view, and the author uses simple sentences and words to get the sweet beagle’s emotions across. Priscilla is an easy-going dog who seems to take all of her changes in stride. She sees the best in every aspect of her situation and in every new change. My first thoughts on the story were that this would make a wonderful book for families that foster animals to read to their children. I think it must be hard to be a foster parent to a dog, because you know going into it that once you find the ideal family, you will have to say goodbye. I have great admiration for those who do it. I tend to get attached to animals very quickly, and don’t handle saying goodbye to them well at all.

After giving it some more thought, I think Priscilla Finds Where She Belongs goes beyond the lessons it shares about fostering animals and teaches kids about dealing with changes as well. For the most part, the illustrations are simple yet charming. Priscilla seems to have more detail than the other characters in the book, which helps put the focus on her. I love beagles, so I was really drawn in by Priscilla’s sweet little puppy face.At 28 pages (half with words, half with full-page illustrations), the book is the perfect bedtime-story length.